Subaru Leaves World Rally Championship

The three-time world champions call it quits.

As the snow starts to hit our Ann Arbor, Michigan, offices in full force and the staff’s best Petter Solberg impressions begin, Subaru has announced its immediate withdrawal from the World Rally Championship. The end of the company’s 19-year WRC run—during which it claimed three manufacturer’s and three driver’s championships and blessed us with its Impreza WRX and STI—follows on the heels of Honda’s departure from Formula 1; both companies explained their decisions as having been made to conserve money in a time of economic downturn.

Subaru parent company Fuji Heavy Industries cites a “business environment [that] has been dramatically changed due to the quick deterioration of the global economy,” and says its participation in WRC over the years has achieved the original goals. FHI further explains that it has more to gain by rerouting funding toward areas of the brand that need it most, such as consumer product development—as Audi said when it made the decision to withdraw from the American Le Mans Series.

FHI says it will continue to support some of the lower-level teams in various rally classes, but its future in the top level of the sport remains unclear. While the 2009 season is definitely out of the question, we’re hoping for a comeback once the economy straightens out.